.July 30, 2006
After another night at Eleanor's camp, Lynn dropped me off at South Arm Road. She will be spending the day in nearby Rumford where she lived for several years and still has many friends. This road is quite remote and you may have difficulty finding the trailhead. There is a hiker sign just before the trailhead. There is also the sign below, but it faces the trail, not the highway.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ My first objective today is to get to the top of Old Blue.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 'Runtrails' describes this section of trail as 'reach out and touch the trail in front of you steep'. She is right, it is very steep. These steel rods in the rock were very helpful.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ After 30 minutes or so I came to an overlook. I could see far below to South Arm Road. In a short time I had gained a lot of vertical distance but not much horizontal distance.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The trail after this leveled off. Then I was in for a real shocker. If I had made a list of a thousand things I expected to see on the trail today, this would not have been one of them. I was looking down concentrating on my footing around the typical rocks and roots of the trail. I heard someone coming from the other direction. I looked up to see a woman hiker about 15 feet away walking toward me. No big deal, right. Well, this woman was TOPLESS. Well, not quite topless, she was wearing a backpack, but that didn't help much in covering her front. As it was a short distance and we were both walking toward each other, I only saw her for about 4 seconds. I think I was in shock for 3 of those seconds. I was pretty much speechless but as we passed. I think I managed to say, "Hi, how are you?" and then it was over. I have heard of women hiking in their bikinis, but I was not expecting this at all. Was it laundry day? I have been asked several times as I have told this story, "Did you take her picture?" The answer is no. For a lot of reasons. First, I am keeping this a G rated website. Second, it happened so fast I didn't have time. Third, I was in such a state of shock it never occurred to me. I continued on the trail. Having been greatly distracted, I was tripping a lot more than usual.
About 15 minutes later I met another hiker, this one fully clothed. It was 'Fire Bug'. I had met her and her dog, Coal, about 10 days earlier on top of Bigelow Mountain.
"Did I met you before?" she asked as I could see she was trying to place where.
"Yes, on top of Bigelow."
"Was your name Mike?"
"No Eric. Where's your dog, Coal?"
"He cut his paw. I had to take him to the vet in Rangeley."
"I am so sorry. Is he going to be all right?"
"Yes. I'm hoping to hitch a ride into Rangeley today and check with the vet to see if he is ready for the trail."
"Good luck. Nice to see you again."
I tried to think of a way I could give her a ride but we were going in opposite directions. Also she only had another hour of hiking before she was going to start looking for a ride. I on the other hand had about 7 more hours of hiking ahead. After another mile or so, the trail got very steep again. Here's some more steel bars to help.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I could start to feel a nice breeze on this hot day and knew I was approaching the open summit. I met and spoke briefly with a couple of section hikers. Another 30 yards and I was at the summit. I used the self-timer option on my camera to get this photo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ There are fantastic views at the top. Although I had trouble seeing over the tops of trees to the north. The taller you are the better chance of a view you will have. The view to the south was tremendous. I could make out Baldpate and Old Speck in the foreground and Mount Washington way in the back.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I began my descent of Old Blue and then hiked a couple of miles that were fairly flat and probably the easiest miles of the day. I met an unexpectedly high number of southbound hikers through this area. From the sign below you can see I have 8.7 miles to go.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I began my ascent of Elephant Mountain when I came across a trail crew of about ten. They were digging rocks out of the woods for stone staircases. They must have just been starting because I didn't see any stone staircases in the area.
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The AT doesn't make it to the top of Elephant Mountain. This mountain has no trail to the summit. I wish it did because it is on the list of New England's 100 highest. I plan to hike most of these mountains, but about a dozen of them are like Elephant Mountain with no trail. I looked for places where hikers may have bushwacked their way off the AT to get to the summit but didn't see anything. There was one spot on Elephant Mountain with a scenic outlook.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Here's the trail junction with Bemis Stream Trail.
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The Bemis Range has five peaks. I will be going over them in this order: West Peak, East Peak, Third Peak, Second Peak, and First Peak. I reached the top of West Peak where there was somewhat of a view but I thought it was pretty obstructed by the trees. It is the highest of the five peaks. I will be losing a little elevation with each peak. East Peak was only .1 miles away and just took a couple of minutes. There was no view from here but as I descended it, I found a small lookout. There were small tree stumps here giving away that the spot had been cleared for the purpose of giving a great view of Lake Mooselookmeguntic. It's a corny joke but I'll tell it anyway. The story is that the lake got its name when a hunter tried to shoot a moose when his gun jammed. The hunter then said, "Moose, look my gun stuck."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ This is near the third peak.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I took the 100 yard side trail to the Bemis Lean-to. I spoke briefly with the thru hiker in the lean-to. I didn't notice the dog under the lean-to until after I took the picture.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The second peak was by far the most scenic of the 5 peaks. Lots of open areas with great views.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ The second peak was also the only peak with a sign on it.
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~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Now I can see Route 17. This is where Lynn will be picking me up. It is still about 3 miles away. It looks closer because I zoomed in with my camera. I will have to drop way down into the valley and end my day with a steep climb up. Notice the small lake in the picture. I thought it was interesting to have a picture with a road lower than the lake since it is usually the other way around.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Here's an interesting cairn near the first peak. I added a couple of stones myself.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I made the steep climb down into the valley where the trail follows this dirt road for about 100 feet before going back into the woods. The map lists this road as an old railroad bed. It is in very good shape and my guess is it is still used by cars to get to camps along the lake.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Next up is Bemis Stream. The map says this crossing can be dangerous in high water. No problem today. It is late July and we have not had a lot of rain.
The stream actually splits around a small island and you have to cross the stream twice. The riverbed on the second crossing didn't have a drop of water it in.
Now I had to end my day with a steep climb of almost a mile. This is very unusual. Almost all of my hikes end with a descent. I came across perhaps the most interest tree I have ever seen. It had five trunks. The background kind of blends in. See if you can pick out the five trunks.
In case you had trouble finding the five trunks, I whited-out some of the background.
I could hear cars above me so I knew I was getting close. Usually I hear cars below me, but today they are above me. I came out of the woods and had one small push through a grassy area to get to the highway. This spot is also known as 'The Height of the Land'. Since you can drive here it is a spot that hikers and non-hikers can both enjoy.
I heard Lynn's voice. She was patiently waiting on a rock by the side of the road. She usually hikes in to meet me but she didn't want to hike down knowing she would have to hike back up. I don't blame her.
Considering the fact that I saw a topless woman today, I figured I better get it out into the open right away so that it wouldn't slip out at a later date.
"You'll never guess what I saw today," I said.
"What?"
"A woman hiking topless."
"WHAT!! That's it. Your not allowed to go hiking anymore," she joked.
You never know what you are going to see on the Appalachian Trail.
We went up to Rangeley for supper and made our way back to 'The Height of the Land' to enjoy our third sunset in as many nights.
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